Bobby Lashley is in need of shoulder surgery and is very likely to miss WWE WrestleMania 38, it has been claimed.

Bobby Lashley was taken out of the Elimination Chamber match by WWE doctors without taking a bump, and we now know why.

Many assumed it was because WWE wanted to protect Lashley, but a new report has claimed that the former WWE Champion is actually injured.

Former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide said on The Ringer Wrestling Show that Lashley is set to miss several months of in-ring competition.

Famuyide is reporting that the WWE Raw star legitimately injured his shoulder at the WWE Royal Rumble, and now needs surgery.

He goes on to add that Lashley is expected to be out for around four months, meaning it's almost certain that he'll miss WrestleMania in April, as can be seen below from WrestlingNews.co's transcription.

“I have under good authority that Lashley is shoot hurt and has been hurt since the Rumble match. If you’ve noticed, he hasn’t worked any Raw’s. He hasn’t really defended his title. He was shoot hurt at the Lesnar match at the Rumble. From what I’m told, it’s for at least 4 months. Shoulder surgery. I’m hearing that he might not even make it to Mania.”

At the Elimination Chamber, Bobby Lashley dropped the WWE title to Brock Lesnar, in a chamber match that also featured Austin Theory, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles and Riddle.

This set up a title vs. title match for the main event of WrestleMania 38, with Universal Champion Roman Reigns going one-on-one with WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.

As of right now, it's unknown whether or not WWE would have taken the WWE title off of Bobby Lashley if he wasn't injured and needing to take a prolonged absence from TV.